《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 17

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實是吉辛的自述，作者以此來抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對文學名著的愛好與追求，以及對大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學中小品文的珍品之一。

以下是由網(wǎng)友分享的《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 冬 17的內(nèi)容，讓我們一起來感受吉辛的四季吧!

Why do I give so much of my time to the reading of history? Is it in any sense profitable to me? What new light can I hope for on the nature of man? What new guidance for the direction of my own life through the few years that may remain to me? But it is with no such purpose that I read these voluminous books; they gratify—or seem to gratify—a mere curiosity; and scarcely have I closed a volume, when the greater part of what I have read in it is forgotten.

為什么我要花那么多時間來閱讀歷史呢？我從中還會有任何收獲嗎？我還指望從新的角度去認識人性嗎？我的人生方向在余下的歲月中還需要新的指導嗎？然而，我并沒有抱著這些目的，來閱讀這些大部頭書籍；它們滿足了——或是似乎滿足了——一種單純的好奇心，我一合上書，就忘了剛剛讀過的大部分內(nèi)容。

Heaven forbid that I should remember all! Many a time I have said to myself that I would close the dreadful record of human life, lay it for ever aside, and try to forget it. Somebody declares that history is a manifestation of the triumph of good over evil. The good prevails now and then, no doubt, but how local and transitory is such triumph. If historic tomes had a voice, it would sound as one long moan of anguish. Think steadfastly of the past, and one sees that only by defect of imaginative power can any man endure to dwell with it. History is a nightmare of horrors; we relish it, because we love pictures, and because all that man has suffered is to man rich in interest. But make real to yourself the vision of every blood-stained page—stand in the presence of the ravening conqueror, the savage tyrant—tread the stones of the dungeon and of the torture-room—feel the fire of the stake—hear the cries of that multitude which no man can number, the victims of calamity, of oppression, of fierce injustice in its myriad forms, in every land, in every age—and what joy have you of your historic reading? One would need to be a devil to understand it thus, and yet to delight in it.

天可憐我，不必記住所有的內(nèi)容！有許多次，我對自己說，我要合上這些人類生命的可怕記載，把它們永遠丟在一邊，并努力忘卻。有人宣稱，歷史顯示的正是善對惡的勝利。毫無疑問，善有時是占了上風，但是這種勝利是局部的、短暫的。如果大部頭的歷史書籍能發(fā)出聲音，那會是經(jīng)久不息的痛苦呻吟聲。認認真真地回顧過去，我們便能看到，除非缺乏想象力，否則任何人都無法忍受長久停留其中。歷史是一場恐怖的噩夢，我們欣賞它，是因為我們熱愛畫面，因為人類遭受過的所有苦難都讓我們深感興趣。但若讓那些血跡斑斑的書頁里的景象在你眼前復活——面對燒殺搶掠的征服者和殘忍的暴君——走走地牢和刑堂的石板地面——感受火刑柱的烈火——聽聽那在每塊土地每個時代里遭受多重災難、壓迫和野蠻不公的不可計數(shù)的受害者的哭喊——試問你在閱讀歷史中還能有什么快樂？只有魔鬼才能在理解這些后，還可以從中獲得樂趣。

Injustice—there is the loathed crime which curses the memory of the world. The slave doomed by his lord's caprice to perish under tortures—one feels it a dreadful and intolerable thing; but it is merely the crude presentment of what has been done and endured a million times in every stage of civilization. Oh, the last thoughts of those who have agonized unto death amid wrongs to which no man would give ear! That appeal of innocence in anguish to the hard, mute heavens! Were there only one such instance in all the chronicles of time, it should doom the past to abhorred oblivion. Yet injustice, the basest, the most ferocious, is inextricable from warp and woof in the tissue of things gone by. And if anyone soothes himself with the reflection that such outrages can happen no more, that mankind has passed beyond such hideous possibility, he is better acquainted with books than with human nature.

不公——這是令人憎惡的罪行，是對世界歷史記載的一種詛咒。奴隸注定要因為主人一時的怪想被折磨致死——人們覺得這是一樁可怕的無法容忍的事情；而在人類文明的每一階段，這種事發(fā)生和被容忍了一百萬次，它不過是一個粗糙的表現(xiàn)形式罷了。噢，那些在無人傾聽的種種不公中受難而死的人們，他們最后有著怎樣的想法啊！那無辜的處在痛苦中的人們向冷酷沉默的蒼天發(fā)出的求救聲！就算在時間的編年史上只有這樣一例，時間就應(yīng)該將歷史厭惡地拋到腦后。但是，不公，這個最卑劣和最殘忍的東西，無法從過去事物的經(jīng)緯中分離出來。如果有人安慰自己說，這種暴行不會再發(fā)生，人類已經(jīng)超越了這種丑惡的可能性，那他可能更熟悉書本而非人性。

It were wiser to spend my hours with the books which bring no aftertaste of bitterness—with the great poets whom I love, with the thinkers, with the gentle writers of pages that soothe and tranquillize. Many a volume regards me from the shelf as though reproachfully; shall I never again take it in my hands? Yet the words are golden, and I would fain treasure them all in my heart's memory. Perhaps the last fault of which I shall cure myself is that habit of mind which urges me to seek knowledge. Was I not yesterday on the point of ordering a huge work of erudition, which I should certainly never have read through, and which would only have served to waste precious days? It is the Puritan in my blood, I suppose, which forbids me to recognise frankly that all I have now to do is to ENJOY. This is wisdom. The time for acquisition has gone by. I am not foolish enough to set myself learning a new language; why should I try to store my memory with useless knowledge of the past?

明智一點，我應(yīng)該花時間閱讀那些讀完不會留下苦澀回味的書——比如我喜愛的偉大詩人、思想家，以及文字讓人感覺安慰和平靜的作家。書架上的許多書似乎都在譴責地看著我，我再也不會把它們拿在手里了嗎？但那些文字都是極好的，我愿意在心靈的回憶中珍視它們，也許我該改掉的最后一個毛病是渴求知識的思想習慣。昨天我不是還差點訂購了一本我肯定不會從頭至尾讀完、只會用來浪費寶貴時間的深奧巨著嗎？我想，也許是血液中的清教徒思想讓我不能坦率地承認，現(xiàn)在我要做的就只是“享受”而已，這是明智的。獲取知識的時間已經(jīng)過去，我不會愚蠢到現(xiàn)在開始學習一門新語言。我為什么要在記憶里存儲一些屬于過去的無用知識呢？

Come, once more before I die I will read Don Quixote.

好啦，在死之前，我會再讀一遍《堂吉訶德》。